Making Sloe and Hedgerow Gin

Autumn arrived and brought with it a questionable frost. Was it a real one or were we all just a little bit surprised by the sudden drop in temperature? Apart from being the time for pumpkin soup, squash in all its forms and stews galore it is also the time for making sloe and hedgerow gin. There are some sloe purists who will not touch this lovely berry until a frost has been; there are those like me who pick them nice and early and speed nature up a bit. Either way if you’ve got sloes around you it would be rude not to make some sloe and hedgerow gin.

When you go out to pick your sloes I must warn you that 1kg of sloes is a good couple of hours of work, scratched wrists, attack of the stinging nettles and excellent fun if you take a friend. I’m not making it sound very appealing but what you get at the end of all the work makes it so worthwhile. You can take a look at this handy guide if you’re new to foraging to help you identify the sloes, I also have a few golden nuggets of foraging advice too.

Ingredients

To make about a litre of gin you’ll need:

1kg sloes

1l good quality gin

between 300g and 400g sugar depending on how sweet you like it.

Method

Sipsmith had a lovely Sloe Gin and Damson Vodka soirée back in September (both of which were rather delicious) and I was let in on a sneaky way to speed up your sloes. After you’ve picked them whack them in the freezer for a few days as this splits the skin. You can always get yourself a pin and prick each and every sloe a few times before adding the gin if you’d rather not freeze them.

Whichever way you split the skin it is important in order to let the gin and sloes mingle.

I very much advise you wash your sloes before freezing otherwise you might end up with a few (used to be) living hedgerow beings in your finished gin. I’m not sure anybody would appreciate you pouring them a spider.

Once washed, drain them and put into a container to freeze for a few days.

I have two batches on the go currently; one is pure sloe gin and the other is mostly sloes but with some blackberries and rosehips thrown in; Hedgerow Gin as I like to call it.

After a few days in the freezer the sloes should be ready for the next bit.

Get the sloes out of the container you used; the reason for this is that any additional insects that may have got their way through should be stuck to the bottom or sides of the container. Nice. Be somewhat cautious when removing the sloes as one false move could see them flying all over the kitchen and floor.

In your selected receptacle put your sloes, blackberries, rosehips, plums, raspberries or whatever else you’re using. Pour in the gin and add the sugar. I put 350g sugar into the pure sloe and 300g into the hedgerow. Put the lid on and give it a swirl or a shake every day for about a week until the sugar has dissolved. After this just shake it when you remember.

There is potential for it to be ready to drink in as little as six weeks but I’ll leave mine until it starts getting dark at 4pm, the blankets are out and there is true frost on the ground. I can’t wait.

Comments

How many seconds did it take for me to arrive here?! Fabulous. I’m of course completely envious of your sloes and picking from the hedgerow. I DID pick the raspberries for my batch but it was not nearly as romantic as my vision of your excursion!

What a cool blog. It is so english. I am from California and I love reading about life and food adventures across the world. I have absolutely no experience with sloe and hedgerow so it was awesome reading about making this tastey treat. I write a blog on food, too but with my musings on life and relationships. Please stop by and visit. Maybe follow if you like.

We did this last year and picked so many sloes that I bagged and froze the ones we didn’t use so I could use them this year. The tragedy is that the plug accidentally got pulled on our garage freezer one weekend and I had to ditch them. This happened just after it was too late to pick any more. It will be a sloe gin desert this Xmas. 🙁

[…] it was pretty hard work. Was it worth it? Absolutely. First of all the sloes were steeped in gin. This particular batch included some blackberries which have to be removed after three months to […]